The present invention relates to a hubcap having decorative lighting and to a battery pack therefor. Specifically, the present invention sets forth a new and useful combination of a hubcap having decorative lighting, and a battery pack providing power for the decorative lighting.
Consumers like to own distinctive and individualized automobiles. This can be verified by entering any auto parts store. A quick survey of the inventory will confirm that almost everything on an automobile can be customized or improved. In recent years, one popular improvement has been to add decorative lighting to the outside of the automobile. Lighted license plate covers have proved especially popular. Also popular are lights which attach underneath the body and light the road surface.
There have been many attempts at providing decorative lightning for wheels or hubcaps attached thereto. Beyond the basic function of providing lightning in conjunction with the wheel, most of the recent attempts have concentrated on using the rotation of the wheel to provide power to the lighting. To date, none of the previous attempts has achieved acceptance by the American public.
The present inventor believes that one of the major reasons that lighted wheels have not achieved acceptance is because of their complexity, and more specifically due to complicated power systems. Simply put, the existing power systems for lighted hubcaps are not easily installed or repaired by the average American driver.
For example, in lighting systems which derive power from the main battery of an automobile such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,389 to Senseman, in the event of a system fault, it is highly unlikely that the system is repairable by the average American driver. The wiring is complex, and even if each hubcap or wheel has its own generator as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,928 to Strepak or U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,431 to Park, most drivers cannot easily repair such complex mechanisms. In magneto-electrical power systems deriving power from the rotation of the wheel such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,919 to Pearsall et al., the power system is even more complex. Known hubcaps with decorative lighting typically require a mechanic with specialized training to perform installation and repair. Accordingly, most drivers do not find the installation of lighted hubcaps to be worth their hard earned money.
Another problem with existing lighted hubcaps such as Senseman and U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,692 to Papadakis is that they're integrated with the automobile upon which they're placed and require modifications to the automobile (which may void the warranty on new cars). For example, hubcaps requiring power from the main battery of the car require that the car's electrical system modified so as to supply power across the axle to the wheel. Many system that rely upon the rotation of the wheel to provide power also require substantial modifications to the wheel and/or axle to work.
The present inventors have recognized a need for a convenient easily removable power supply for lighted hubcaps. Such a power supply, should not be technically advanced or complicated, so as to allow an average driver to install, maintain and repair the lighted hubcaps.